Sasha moved beside me, and I tightened my abs to lift myself up. My back muscles screamed, but I managed to right myself without a word. My gaze locked on hers, her lips parted, so close to me I could almost taste them.
“How do you feel?” Her voice was soft, breathy.
“Like I need to kiss you.” I didn’t wait for an answer. Our lips met, fire coursing through me as I clutched her waist, drawing her in close. Her hands slid up my back, teasing my already hot skin into an inferno. I lifted the back of her tank top, my hands brushing against her silkiness. Our tongues tangled, hungry, as I slid my fingers up her spine to unclasp her bra. I needed her bare skin pressed against mine.
But before I could lift her shirt off, she pulled away.
I frowned. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.” She got up. “Everything.”
She pulled her arm out of the bra strap and then slid it free from under her tank. Her nipples were erect against the fabric of her top, and every curve of her body tempted me. I wanted to touch and taste every inch of her. Our bodies should’ve been pressed together, writhing on the bed, the floor, the shower.
Instead, she was pacing again, and I was left with a raging erection.
Running my fingers along my jaw, I shook my head. “This dance we’re doing is making me crazy. Can we just lay the cards on the table? I showed you my hand when I told you about the wolf recognizing its mate.”
“What do you want from me?” She stopped pacing and turned toward me with pain in her eyes. “You’ve got some crazy werewolf mating instinct kicking in, but you told me yourself you wished it wasn’t me. It’s like cupid hit you with some arrow, and now you’re convinced I’m the one for you, but I’m not. If you didn’t have the wolf instincts making you crazy, you’d be killing me now, not helping me.”
I got to my feet, wincing a little when pain flared in my ankle. “Earlier tonight you said I saved your life, and I’m pretty sure you know who pulled you out of the fight with Nero up at Lake Tahoe. What else do I need to do to prove that you can trust me?”
“You’d need to go back in time. I don’t do trust. Not anymore.” She pulled the hair tie from her hair, shielding her eyes from mine as it fell. “And you and your wolf shouldn’t either. How many times have I attacked you already? I’ll never deserve you.”
Part of my brain short circuited. She’d never deserve me? Did that mean she might enjoy my company? I silenced the questions in my head and forced myself to take a deep breath. I’d faced tougher negotiations during business mergers but never for anything I wanted to win with every fiber of my being.
I met her eyes. “Are you saying you don’t hate me?”
“I’ve never hated you.” She turned toward the window. “Just myself.”
Okay, this wasn’t the right time to smile, but it felt like a huge weight had been lifted. She didn’t hate me. Then confusion settled onto my shoulders.
“So, if you’ve never hated me, then why do you keep pushing me away?”
“Are you nuts?” She shot me a look over her shoulder like I had two heads. “I shot you with a Taser, tied you up and held you hostage, and if that wasn’t enough, I shattered your ankle with a bullet. I ruined your life for my own selfish reasons. I was so anxious for an antidote that I behaved exactly like the criminals I used to arrest.”
My shoulders tensed up. “Look, I will admit I was bitter when my leg didn’t heal up the way I’d hoped it would. But I figure it makes us even.”
“Even?”
I nodded. “When I followed Adam and Lana to San Antonio, I went with one goal. I wanted to kill whoever made a move against my brother. Simple. I didn’t care who you were or why you were there, I hated you because you were a jaguar. Even though Adam trusted her, I thought Lana was setting him up. You know why I was so sure of that? Because she was a jaguar. I didn’t even know her, but I thought I did just because she didn’t shift into a wolf.”
“You were protecting your family. Justified suspicions based on past experience.”
I ground my teeth together. “And you were promised a way out, a way to get your job back and be with your sister again.”
“Don’t pretend you understand.” She spun around eyes blazing. “I was desperate. Nero isn’t a place you trust, but I took their bait anyway. I hurt you to get what I wanted.”
My patience evaporated, temper flaring. “Without any proof of any kind, I believed Lana killed a member of my Pack, simply because she was a jaguar. I made judgments against her and you based on my sense of smell alone, so spare me your self-loathing. I’m no better than you.”
“Fuck you,” she spat as she stormed into the bathroom.
Dammit. I yanked out the sofa bed, directing my frustration to the hotel furniture in the process. When I finally got into the bed, the cool cotton sheets soothed my hot skin and my equally hot temper. Fate was really fucking with me. First I find my mate and she’s trying to kill me, now we’re on the same team, and… And the woman drove me crazy.
Being with her was near impossible.
But being without her… I didn’t want to think about it.
Inside the bathroom, the shower came to life, and I rolled onto my side, trying not to fantasize about her slick, wet, naked body.
Too late.
Chapter Fourteen
Sasha
Hot water ran down my feverish skin, unable to calm the fire smoldering in my belly. Everything about the man called to me. Seeing him in his shorts and nothing else stole my breath away. And his kiss was pure sin. Delicious.
And undeserved.
How could he think we’d ever be “even”? I hurt him, not once but twice. And spare him my self-loathing?
Oh, please.
He barely had a glimpse of the depth of my self-loathing. Bastard.
I didn’t warrant any kindness, least of all from him. I’d almost killed him for no other purpose than to get what I wanted. No one else mattered to me.
How could I ever make anything right again after that?
I leaned back into the shower, closing my eyes. Lather ran down my hair, my back, my legs, and in my mind it was his fingers. I replayed the way his muscles tensed beneath my hand when I’d helped him with the yoga posture. His tanned skin enticed me to touch and taste.
My pulse was racing by the time I turned off the shower and reached for the towel. I needed to get a grip or I was going to be useless against the werewolf stalker who was after me.
The cold dose of reality went a long way to chilling my desire.
My head had to be back in the game, not distracted, daydreaming about Aren’s touch. I had work to do. The bounty hunter’s weapon was in the other room, and I should’ve already inspected it for serial numbers or anything else I could use to trace its owner. Instead I’d been fighting with a way-too-sexy-for-his-own-good wolf who had me so off-balance it made it tough to think straight.
With the towel back on the rack, I reached for the robe and wrapped it around myself. Holding my breath, I opened the bathroom door. Aren was sound asleep on the sofa bed. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. I could deal with him later.
Quietly, I made my way over to the bags from the mall. Stashed in the large Macy’s bag was my stalker’s gun, the silencer still attached. As I lifted it from the bag I quickly realized it was a Beretta.
A military Special Forces weapon.
Oh, shit.
I brought it into the bathroom so I could inspect it under better lighting. I couldn’t find any identifying markings. The serial numbers were scraped clean.